Monday, April 09, 2012

WebRTC, realtime video chat in a browser, so where is making a phone call going?

WebRTC:

The WebRTC initiative is a project supported by Google, Mozilla and Opera. This website and it's content is created and maintained by the Google Chrome team.

Mozilla effort, here and here.

Microsoft having bought Skype, is going it alone, its own way. Apple is also absent from the three browser publishers and their WebRTC effort. Will Microsoft aim to put free phone call features into the operating system, with Windows 8, in order to capture market share before thinking how to specifically make more money, beyond that, once market share's been attained? My understanding is Apple in its iPad as currently sold has video conferencing built in or available from the AppStore. Ramsey's mayor Bob Ramsey, during his stint working in North Dakota had an iPad that he said was invaluable to him for keeping regular contact with family, in Ramsey. I don't know details, whether or how Apple extracts a per-call cash fee, and I do not use a tablet product.

But I do remember the Ma Bell days, when monopoly - and attendant outrageous monopoly pricing - ruled. If any reader used a "blue-box" back then, please leave a comment; this photo.